


postage stamps

by arch-works (divine_chemistry)



Category: Klaus (2019)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Denial of Feelings, Domestic Fluff, Falling In Love, Fluff, M/M, Mutual Pining, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates, also chapter count because this might end up longer, might change chapter titles we'll see
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-10
Updated: 2020-02-10
Packaged: 2021-02-28 06:35:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,455
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22539466
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/divine_chemistry/pseuds/arch-works
Summary: Lydia laughs quietly when gliding her fingers over the birds painted across Klaus's back, and her husband can't help his bashful smile at the unexpected reaction."What's so funny?" He asks her, "They're just birds.""I know I know, but I've just realized something,"and Klaus's interest peaks upon noting the light mirth in her voice, "I think one of them is wearing a little postman's hat."
Relationships: (Past) Klaus/Lydia (Klaus 2019), Jesper Johanssen/Klaus
Comments: 18
Kudos: 187





	postage stamps

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Pocketful_Pebbles](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pocketful_Pebbles/gifts).



> Soulmate AU where your soulmate-mark represents a distinct aspect of / moment in the relationship between you and your soulmate.

His back is facing Lydia as Klaus's brow furrows, and she begins to trace over what her husband assumes is the little mailman bird.

"A postman bird? What's that doing on there?"

"I'm not quite sure, love."

Klaus goes quiet as he gazes into the fireplace burning some feet from the bed, and though he begins to lose himself in the crackling of the embers, he still senses as Lydia's hand moves to admire the rest of the mural spanning across his back.

It's of "a large tree...with hundreds of birdhouses dangling from the branches. Oh! And each one has its own little bird! How precious."

Lyda had described it to him as such over the years, as he had never been able to see it for himself. There wasn't a mirror in all of Smeerensburg large enough for a man Klaus's size to even see sufficient fragments of his soulmate-mark, but he had come to settle with knowing Lydia could at least dote over it for them both. Still, he couldn't think of why a little "mailman bird" would have a part in it.

Klaus glances over his shoulder at the woman behind him.

"...do you have some secret passion for stationery I don't know about, Lydia?"

She laughs at the question, and her husband's heart is quick to melt. 

"Not the last time _I_ checked, at least," she replies, and Klaus feels her fingers then return to the spot he now understood was the mailman bird. "Still, I think it makes for a _very_ charming addition to your mark, Klaus."

"Thank you, love. I'm glad you like it."

He feels her kiss his back as the fire casts a gentle glow upon them, the crackle of embers a distant memory as they drift off to sleep.

·-»-•-«-·

The fireplace sat cold when Klaus first found Jesper in his cabin––

The bed had been moved by then too, as Klaus had grown prone to sleeping in his chair over the years,––

and the postman had first seemed to be nothing more than a lanky, fumbling coward in a postman's uniform who had taken him for some ax-wielding murderer from the woods. Klaus had been disappointed––and offended,––to say the least, but he'd come to realize Jesper's selflessness with time, and with every other night spent delivering.

And tonight was no exception.

A rapid melody of footsteps quickly reaches the door from inside the last house Jesper had slipped into––"Illegally," Jesper had once muttered. "Breaking and entering, it's illegal. You know, just because you're not the one doing it doesn't mean you're not an accomplice,"––until the postman's silhouette comes bounding into the open with a speed akin to that of the reindeer attached to the carriage.

As Jesper lunges into his side of the seat, Klaus shifts to give him more room.

"Is everything alright?" He whispers hurriedly, and while Jesper's uniform is visibly worse for wear, the quick laugh the postman lets out indicates a more favorable answer.

"Yeah, yeah, I just panicked. Plus, we've still got a busy night ahead of us. I didn't want to waste any time strolling back out here."

Klaus smiles at that, and Jesper returns one so lively he nearly misses the exhaustion so prominent in the postman's eyes as he snaps the reigns to get them moving once more.

As they tread through the snow that night, Klaus spends his breaks alone in the carriage reflecting. He had never thought he'd be bringing joy to the children of Smeerensburg when he never could for his own. He wonders if Lydia would have approved, and as a gentle wind begins to pick up, he laughs at himself for having ever thought otherwise.

When Jesper returns from the last house of the night, Klaus suggests Jesper rests as he makes the drive back himself, an offer the postman readily accepts as he slumps into the seat and dozes off in an instant. Klaus chuckles at the sight.

As the carriage carries on towards the rickety shed that was the Smeerensburg post office, Klaus begins to note the slight change in the wind.

"What is it, Lydia?" He whispers, and his eyes are suddenly drawn to his sleeping companion as the wind blows onto Jesper. This wasn't the first time Lydia had brought his focus to the postman, but he still failed to truly understand what she was trying to say.

After another minute, the wind subsides, as Lydia supposedly opts to convey the message at another time, just as she had the day Jesper had wandered into Klaus's life.

Klaus sighs as she disappears, pulling the reigns as the carriage reaches the front of the post office.

He turns to Jesper, realizes he's asleep and begins to jostle the postman with care, an attempt to wake him from a surely overdue nap. With lacking results, he eventually decides to gently hoist Jesper into his arms and move him inside by himself.

As Klaus opens the door, it dawns on him that he has yet to actually behold the inside of the post office. He supposes that since they usually met at the workshop, Klaus had never found a reason to actually stop by.

The sight now before him left much to be desired, and Klaus is overcome with concern as he fully takes in the atrocious state of the post office. The ceiling is––to put it mildly,––'unfinished', the alphabetical mail slots were makeshift chicken coops, and the bathroom...

Klaus scans the space for a place set down his companion, and chooses the chair behind what he assumes is Jesper's desk, now cluttered with a disarray of letters and stamps.

Klaus's frown only grows as he walks around the building before it occurs to him the reality that Jesper _lives_ here, in this _terrible_ old shed, with snow pouring in, a decrepit ceiling, and a life-threatening journey to the bathroom. Klaus is appalled.

He tells himself he's going to come by and fix the place up himself at some point, but it comes to his attention that "some point" implied Jesper would continue living under these conditions till then, and the notion doesn't sit well inside him.

Klaus's thoughts are interrupted when he hears the reindeer still outside, and he begins to consider taking Jesper with him to the cabin. And while he's mostly set on the idea, a not-insignificant part of him urges him not to follow through for some unnamed reason.

Klaus ignores it, however, returning Jesper to the carriage. And with a gentle snap of the reigns, the two begin a quiet trip back to the cabin.

·-»-•-«-·

When they arrive, Klaus returns the reindeer to their stables before carrying Jesper into the cabin.

He sits the sleeping postman in his chair, draping him in soft furs that almost seem to engulf the smaller man before moving to light the hearth.

When Klaus glances back, he notes the soft glow of the fire in an all too familiar way, and for a moment, he nearly sees Lydia in the postman's place.

The thought itself shocks Klaus back to reality.

To think he almost compared Jesper to his dear Lydia. How absurd.

Though Klaus can't keep his gaze from the man sound asleep in his chair, and he starts to wonder just _how_ absurd it really was.

Klaus suddenly finds himself drawn by some invisible force as he kneels before Jesper's sleeping frame, gently taking the postman's hat into his hands. He rubs the fabric between his fingers, taking in the scent of ink, pine, and cheap coffee. He can't understand what it is driving him to act like this, but it pulls him dangerously close to Jesper's face. And it's from this small distance that Klaus notices a mix of color hidden beneath Jesper's collar spreading down from the back of his neck.

It takes Klaus a moment to realize it's Jesper's soul marking. He hadn't even thought of the concept since Lydia had passed, and he's concerned at the realization that Jesper is the one bringing him to reminisce over that.

The sudden urge to remove Jesper's coat comes over him, and Klaus has to fight to keep from placing his hands on Jesper to get a better view of the image.

 _"No,"_ he thinks, _"It wouldn't be right to do this while he's asleep,"_ and so Klaus soon pulls away from the postman, a discernible frustration now mounting in his chest.

He doesn't understand why Jesper is bringing him to this, and he realizes a part of him actually hopes he'll never know.

As Jesper's snores sound gently from his chair, Klaus steps out to get more wood for the fire.

**Author's Note:**

> (There is so much Klausper in my drafts like you wouldn't believe) I thought these two could use a soulmate fic. 'Will definitely update by the end of the week at the latest. Also, I know I keep including some scene where Jesper is sitting by Klaus's fireplace, but it's really wholesome and I think it's just important to depict that as much as possible.  
> 


End file.
